Smartphones Outsell Feature Phones for First Time

SAN FRANCISCO — Worldwide smartphones sales reached 225 million units in the second quarter, exceeding sales of feature phones for the first time, according to market research firm Gartner Inc.

Second quarter smartphone sales were up 47 percent compared with the second quarter of 2012, Gartner said. Meanwhile, sales of feature phones in the quarter totaled about 210 million, down 21 percent compared with the second quarter of 2012, Gartner said.

"Smartphones accounted for 51.8 percent of mobile phone sales in the second quarter of 2013, resulting in smartphone sales surpassing feature phone sales for the first time," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner, in a statement.

Sales of all mobile handsets totaled 435 million units in the second quarter, up 4 percent from the second quarter of 2012, Gartner said.

Samsung remained the No. 1 smartphone vendor by sales in the second quarter, with its share of smartphone sales reaching nearly 32 percent, up from 30 percent in the second quarter 2012, IHS said. Apple sold 32 million smartphones in the second quarter of 2013, up 10 percent from the second quarter of 2012, IHS said.

Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system (OS) was the third most widely used smartphone OS in the second quarter, with 3 percent market share, surpassing BlackBerry for the first time, Gartner said. Android remains far and away the most popular smartphone OS, with its market share improving 79 percent in the second quarter, up from 64 percent in the second quarter of 2012, Gartner said.

"While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, Microsoft should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users," Gupta said.

Gupta said that with second quarter mobile phone sales on track, Gartner maintains its forecast that total sales will total 1.82 billion units this year. "Flagship devices brought to market in time for the holidays, and the continued price reduction of smartphones will drive consumer adoption in the second half of the year," Gupta said.

I do believe that there is a different market for each cell phone., therefore, I am not surprised that the sale of cell phones continues to increase. In terms of smart cell phones, I do not believe that all cell phones will be Smartphone in the future, unless the price is reduced. We have to remember that there are customers who cannot afford to buy a Smartphone. I have a Windows smartphone and I love it!

Perhaps with this milestones we can stop calling the phones smart or dumb...they will all be smart very soon...the problem with the smart label is what you do afterwards...very smart? super smart?...this applies to phones, grids (as in smart grid), appliances (as in smart appliances) etc...would it be better to start classifiying them based on communication technology they are using? (2G, 3G or 4G)

Except Apple and Samsung. I think this is a case of disagreement among two market research firms: IDC, who calculates that the balance shifted in the first quarter, and IHS, who calculates it happened in the second quarter. Either way, seems as though smartphones are the lead dog now. But I thought feature phones were making a comeback of sorts?

ChanjO: To answer your question: yes, I will consider a Microsoft phone and a Surface tablet if a) the price become more competitive (this is really what drove the Droid market), b) More apps are available (and they will be, because the Droid and iOS markets are saturated), and c) Microsoft continues to include basic Office on the Surface RT.

It would be nice to have a phone and tablet that can open Office docs without acquiring an expensive App that doesn't quite work correctly. The business world is not about to start running on Open Office or Google Docs. Not this decade.

You're right, Junko. Not much surprise here. Certainly the directly has been clear for a long time. But the more interesting part is what this means for mobile broadband service providers and, in turn, to retailers and other businesses that will benefit from the thundering herd. Revenue for the carriers will surge.

One question in my mind is whether there is enough spectrum in the US to meet the demand. I already hear many, many complaints from 4G phone owners (myself included) who can't get service when they need it, or get service that is so slow that it remind you of 2G. If service deteriorates and the number of smartphones soar, many of the phone owners will question why they have a smartphone at all. Most of us spend enough time on computers...do we really need to spend another $50 a month to get inferior service when we're on the go?

According to the data, the overall market size of smartphone has increased by 46.5%. It is substantial. Among all OSs, Android, iOS and Microsoft have gained in number of handset shipment. The struggling blackberry has shrinked. The bleeding seems to be unstoppable.

To common wisdom, the attraction of any smartphone OS is heavily depending on availability of popular apps and the diversity of apps. RIM took a seemingly good direction by making BB10 able to run Android apps. Why is Blackberry failed to gain attention? The -ve movement is puzzling to me.

On the bright side, Microsoft has roughly 83% gain. Although 3.3% market share is too small to celebrate, the executive shall not be too upset of the gain. Question is whether the trend can be improved. Will you consider Windows phone if there are more and better apps?

So, it is obviously going on for a while. I think what the data tells us is that smartphones are no longer either high-end or value added handsets. It's now the mainstream, mass market product available in volume -- on the verge of getting highly commoditized.

I can't imagine that either Microsoft or Apple is happy with the story that these numbers tell. It would appear that Android, even with the fragmentation problems that it has, is on its way towards becoming the de facto standard for smartphones. Combine that with the decline in PC sales and Google could end up with a stranglehold on this market. Can the monopoly police be far behind?